Defenses of ethical vegetarianism take various forms and can be based in a wide variety of moral theories. In this post, I present three common defenses of ethical vegetarianism and also describe two more contemporary defenses of eating meat.
Tag Archives: Ethics
A Quick Look: The Moral Equality of Combatants in War
Is it morally wrong for soldiers to fight in war? Do both sides in war share the same moral status? In this week’s post, I present some philosophers’ responses to these questions.
A Quick Look: Philosophical Views on Early-Term Fetal Rights
The philosophical debate surrounding abortion often focuses on whether a fetus (or other pre-fetal individuals) is a person. This post explores a few different angles regarding early-term fetal rights and fetal personhood.
A Quick Look: Some Moral Justifications of Legal Punishment
Many people think that legal punishment, the deliberate infliction of harm on convicted individuals, is morally justified. In this week’s post, I present a few ways that philosophers have attempted to justify such punitive practices.
A Quick Look: The Ideal of Liberal Neutrality
How should the state promote conceptions of the good? Should it remain neutral with respect to ‘what is good’ or should it endorse only certain goods? In this week’s post, I briefly outline some considerations for and against each of these positions.
A Quick Look: The Mere Addition Paradox
As the world continues on through the pandemic, the population has also continued to grow. Derek Parfit and other philosophers have questioned whether society is better off if more happiness is produced by increases in population or if it would be better to have smaller populations with increased quality of life. In my newest post, I explore Parfit’s Mere Addition Paradox and how some have responded.
A Quick Look: Consequentialism and the Problem of Alienation
Do our commonsense conceptions of love and friendship undermine the core features of consequentialism? Or can evaluating relationships in terms of consequences allow for genuine love and friendship? Find out what some philosophers have to say in this week’s post.
A Quick Look: Exploring Objective List Theories of Well-being
Whether young or old, many have often wondered what is ultimately good for people. In other words, what theory of well-being appropriately captures what is meant by our claims of the general goodness of someone’s life? In my newest post, I explore objective list theories of well-being, both their criticisms and defenses.
A Quick Look: Defenses and Criticisms of Metaethical Constructivism
In the last post we saw Mackie’s view that moral facts do not exist. Contra Mackie, moral realists hold that there are independent objective moral facts. But if we reject both of these positions, how can we make sense of the existence of moral principles? One solution is that moral principles are something we construct. This week, let’s take a quick look at what some philosophers have to say about metaethical constructivism.
A Quick Look: Mackie’s Error Theory and Moral Anti-realism
Do objective moral values exist? Or are they fictions that are incompatible with the natural world? Let’s take a quick look at what some philosophers have to say.